


Retelling of a Fairytale

by widowshulk



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: F/M, Hydra Grant Ward, Kidnapping, Leo Fitz & Jemma Simmons Friendship, Post-Episode: s02e21-22 S.O.S. Parts 1-2, Post-Season/Series 02 AU, Snow White Elements
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-21
Updated: 2016-01-21
Packaged: 2018-05-15 09:05:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,243
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5779822
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/widowshulk/pseuds/widowshulk
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In an AU where Jemma wasn't taken by the monolith, she goes back to England for her mother's birthday only to be kidnapped by one of Ward's men.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Retelling of a Fairytale

**Author's Note:**

> Part of 52 Stories in 52 Weeks  
> ↳ Week 3: A retelling of a fairytale - in this instance, it's Snow White

“You’ll be back in three weeks?” Fitz asked, watching his hands as he handed Jemma the last of her bags.

“Yes, Fitz, I’ll be back in three weeks,” she said, taking the bag from him. 

She threw the bag in the back of the car and wrapped her arms around Fitz. “I’ll be back before you know it,” she whispered.

“You better,” he mumbled.

Jemma smiled and pulled back from him. He smiled back at her; it was faint, but it was there.

“Tell your mum and dad I send my love?” he asked.

“Of course. You know she’ll make me come back with four different kinds of crumble for you.”

Finally, Jemma was rewarded with a real smile, Fitz’s face had lit up as he remembered the last time he’d had some of Mrs Simmons’s famous crumble. 

“Let me know when you land,” he said as Jemma got into the car.

Jemma nodded and started to pull the door closed, but he stopped the door. He leant down and kissed her on the cheek.

“Bye, Jemma,” he said, before looking over to the driver’s seat. “See you in a bit, Daisy.”

“Bye,” she shouted through the window, giving him a small wave.

Fitz waved Jemma off, keeping a smile plastered on his face just in case she could still see him. When the car was finally out of sight, his face fell. They hadn’t been apart for this long since, well since she’d gone to Hydra. It’s not like she was leaving for good, she was just going home for her mum’s birthday, but it still felt wrong, and her timing wasn’t brilliant. They were finally making progress and getting back to how things had been before Ward had intervened. Jemma wasn’t tiptoeing around him anymore and there had been some moments that made him think that she felt the same way about him as he felt about her. It could be wishful thinking, of course, and he didn’t want to pressure her. Maybe some time away would help clear things up for her.

\--

10 hours later, Jemma stepped off the plane, pleased with the amount of reading she’d been able to get done on the flight. She shot Fitz a quick text to let him know that she’d arrived and that she’d call when she got to her parents’ house. She managed to get through security and get her bags relatively quickly, so when she stepped out and couldn’t see her parents waiting, she assumed it was because they hadn’t been expecting her so soon. Her eyes darted around the sea of people before she spotted a man with her name on a whiteboard.

She’d never seen the man before and she couldn’t imagine why her parents would send a strange man to pick her up when they lived less than an hour away from the airport. Reaching for her phone, she turned away from the man, making sure to avoid eye contact.

A moment later, there was a tap on her shoulder. “Miss Simmons? Miss Jemma Simmons?” He was English, southern, and he was quite handsome. His hair was messy, but it had obviously been styled that way and his eyes were the colour of chocolate. For a moment she wondered if this was her sister’s new man, he seemed like her type.

“Who are you?” she asked. She didn’t have any weapons on her person, but her bag was heavy and if she needed to, she knew she could probably knock him out with it. 

“Your parents asked me to fetch you. Your father’s feeling under the weather and your mother didn’t want to leave him,” he said, reaching out a hand for her suitcase. “They said they’d notified you.”

That sounded just like her mum; not wanting to leave anyone unattended when they were ill. She checked her phone again and there was nothing new, except a monkey emoji text from Fitz. She smiled.

“May I take your bag?”

“What?” she asked, distracted by the thought of Fitz sitting up, watching her flight progress online. He was probably wearing those silly tartan pyjamas that his nan had knitted for him. “Oh, yes, please.”

The man led the way to the car park, stopping briefly to pay, and efficiently loaded her bags into the boot.

“Straight to your parents’ house in Sheffield?” he asked, opening the back passenger door for her.

“Please,” Jemma said, slipping into the car. She pulled out her phone and tried calling her parents and Fitz, but somehow her phone had no signal. She was sure she’d had signal here the last time she’d flown home, besides Fitz had rigged it to boost the signal. Something definitely wasn’t right. She started running through possibilities when she interrupted by the driver.

“I brought a flask of tea, if you’d like some,” the man offered. “It’s Yorkshire Tea, if that sways you.”

After a long flight, a nice warm cup of tea was exactly what she needed. She took the flask and thanked him before pouring herself a cup. Just the heat of the cup in her hands comforted her and minutes later, she’d finished the whole thing. 

The caffeine in the tea was supposed to make her more alert, but she could feel herself getting sleepier. It was almost impossible for her to keep her eyes open.

\--

“What’s up, mate?” Hunter asked as he walked into the lab.

Fitz was pacing up and down, twiddling his phone in his hands. 

“It’s Simmons.”

“I thought she’d gone home?”

“Yeah, she was supposed to call when she got home, but she hasn’t.”

“I’m sure she’s just busy catching up with her family. She’ll call.”

“She sent a text from the airport, but something feels wrong. I knew something would go wrong.”

“Mate, relax. She got there all right, didn’t she?” Hunter asked. Fitz nodded. “Then she’s probably fine. Just chill, yeah?”

“Okay,” Fitz said with a sigh. “You’re right.”

\--

Jemma’s head was pounding and she could feel her brain throbbing. It was too bright and she couldn’t open her eyes, but she could take in her surroundings without needing to see them. She was sitting outside from the way the wind was blowing around her. She couldn’t hear any cars, in fact she couldn’t hear much except trees blowing and birds chirping. Her best guess was a park or something similar.

She couldn’t move her limbs, except for a tiny bit here and there; she’d been bound. Her hands were tied together in her lap. Her legs were stretched out, but they were trapped between two things on either side. She tried to wriggle them up and down, but they must have been tied as well. Her back was pressed against something, considering her location she assumed it must be a tree. She couldn’t move forward from whatever it was, so she must have something tied around her middle as well.

She braced herself as she opened her eyes. It took about a minute of blinking before her eyes finally adjusted. Her vision was a little hazy, but she could see trees everywhere; that’s what her legs were between. Her hands were bound with cable ties, at least three of them, and it was the same around her ankles; there was also a rope wrapped around her torso a few times. Her mind was running a million miles a minute trying to work out how to escape when the driver appeared from behind a tree. He was carrying a phone in one hand and a gun in the other; both were pointed right at her.

“You’re finally awake,” the man said. “We can get started.”

“Who are you?” Jemma asked, her throat burning as she got the words out.

He looked at the phone, then turned it to face her and brought it closer. The image was grainy, but there was no mistaking that face. 

“For fuck’s sake, Ward. Haven’t you learnt your lesson?” Jemma demanded.

“Apparently not, but no one’s here to stop me, are they?” Ward’s voice may have been quiet, but it was cockier than ever.

“You’re not even here,” Jemma pointed out.

“Couldn’t take the risk.”

“So this is it? You brought me to the woods to kill me? It’s a little cliché.”

“But effective. Enough chit-chat, anyhow. Kill her,” Ward ordered.

“Yes, sir,” the man said, taking a few steps back. 

“Fitz will kill you for this, Ward.”

“Well, you’ll never know. Do it, Benson.”

Benson re-angled the camera and the gun and shot Jemma in the chest four times. 

“Nicely done,” said Ward. “Now clean up and get out of there.”

\--

“Something’s wrong,” Fitz announced, walking into Coulson’s office. “Sorry for interrupting, sir, but it’s about Simmons.”

Coulson and May both looked up at him from the desk, confusion lining their faces.

“What are you talking about?” Coulson asked.

“She went home and, and, and…” Fitz couldn’t finish the sentence. His throat closed up and he could feel tears burning in his eyes.

“Fitz, what is it?” May asked, standing and walking towards him.

“She flew home. She said she’d call, but she never did.”

“She’s probably busy,” Coulson suggested.

“That’s what Hunter said, but it felt wrong. I waited for a call or a text or something.” Fitz’s voice was starting to shake and he was angry at himself. He couldn’t get the words out, he just couldn’t find them.

“We contacted her parents,” Bobbi said from the door. “We just wanted to make sure she was safe. They said she’d emailed yesterday telling them that she couldn’t make it to Sheffield. They were under the impression she was still with us.”

“What?” Coulson asked, finally grasping the seriousness of the situation. He stood and raced over to Fitz and May.

“You’re sure?”

Fitz nodded.

“She’s not answering; her phone’s going straight to voicemail.”

“She said she’d landed at Manchester, didn’t she? We’ll get surveillance from the airport and see where she went,” Coulson said. “Get Skye… Daisy. Get Daisy on it. Now.”

Bobbi nodded and nudged Fitz to go with her.

“You don’t think…?” Coulson started.

“Ward?” May asked and Coulson nodded. “Could be.”

“That’s not good,” Coulson said.

\--

Her heart was racing, her breathing was thready, and her whole body was shaking, but she was alive. Jemma had clenched her eyes shut, not wanting to see the damage, but she knew she was going to have to look to see what her chance of survival was. If, by some miracle, Benson had left her alone, she’d still have to get out of the restraints before she could even consider treating her wounds. 

She took a deep breath and opened her eyes. Benson was looming over her, staring at her with his head cocked to the side. He wasn’t surprised to see her awake.

“Your death was very convincing, you played your part well,” he said, retrieving a knife from his back pocket.

Jemma flinched at the sight of the knife, even though logically she knew if he wanted her dead, she’d already be dead.

She looked at her torso, and everything was intact. She squinted, trying to see what she was missing.

“They were blanks,” he said, and Jemma looked back up at him. He was cutting his way through the cable ties around her ankles. “The bullets, that is.”

“Why?” she asked.

He finished freeing her ankles and moved around the trees to take hold of her wrists.

“Hunter’s an old friend and I owe him one from our SHIELD days. I’ve been with Hydra for a few years, so I’ve gained their trust. When I heard about the mission, I volunteered and no one questioned it.”

Benson held her wrists gently as he sliced his way through the cable ties.

“You’re SHIELD?” Jemma asked.

“Mostly,” he replied with a shrug.

She frowned, not sure how to take that. She didn’t know there were others inside Hydra, but it made sense for Coulson to keep as many eyes as possible on the inside.

“Your phone is in your bag, it’s been disabled, but you should be able to get it functioning again so your team can find you. Ward will be watching them like hawks to see how they respond to your ‘death’, so make sure they know to keep an eye out. I have a safe house a couple of miles east,” he said, reaching into his jacket pocket and pulling out a key. “Help yourself to it, and anything in it. It’s not much, but it’ll keep you until your team can extract you without Ward finding out.”

“You don’t have to do that,” Jemma said, wriggling her ankles and her wrists, trying to gain back some feeling.

“It’s the least I could do. I told your parents you wouldn’t be coming here, so they won’t be looking for you. I think that covers everything.”

Benson reached out a hand to her, to help her try and stand. It took her a couple of minutes before her ankles could support her, but she finally managed to stand, leaning ever so slightly on Benson. 

“Good, they’d only worry.”

“Can you walk?” 

“I think so,” Jemma said, slowly starting to walk.

“I can’t stay much longer or Ward will get suspicious. Remember to tell your team to be safe.”

“I will. Thank you, for everything,” Jemma said with a smile.

With that, he took off, leaving her to stumble to her handbag. The first thing she did was reboot her phone and dial Fitz’s number.

\--

Coulson walked into the lab to find the whole team huddled around Daisy and her laptop.

“What’s going on?” he asked.

Without looking up, Mack said, “Surveillance from the airport, we found the guy who took Simmons. Running his face through every known database.”

“And a few unknown,” Daisy added.

“Her phone still offline?” Coulson asked.

“Yeah,” Mack replied.

“Do we know where he took her?” Coulson asked.

“We lost him on the A34, but he wasn’t heading to Sheffield, so her family aren’t in danger,” Fitz said, looking up from the screen. 

Daisy’s laptop pinged as Fitz’s phone started to ring.

“Her phone’s back on,” Daisy said, looking at Fitz. He nodded at her.

“Simmons? Jemma? Are you all right?” Fitz answered the phone.

“I’m fine, I’m fine,” Jemma reassured. “It was Ward.”

Fitz mouthed ‘Ward’ at the team and at least three of them swore under their breath.

Jemma explained what had happened as quickly as she could, with Fitz repeating it back to the team. She kept telling Fitz that she was fine, but Fitz couldn’t help but feel panicked. Ward had gotten too close to killing Jemma, he needed to be stopped. It seemed like there was no end to his mission to destroy their team.

When they finally ended the call, Jemma had made it to Benson’s safe house and found a small arsenal, so she could keep herself safe until the team could work out an extraction plan.

“We should all go. In small teams,” Bobbi suggested.

“Will it really take all of us?” Lincoln asked and was greeted with frowns. “I take it back, sorry.”

“But Ward’s watching, we can’t lead him back to Simmons,” May said.

“It wouldn’t be that hard to lose the tail once we’re in European air space,” Hunter said.

“He’s right,” Fitz said. 

They separated into three teams and worked out the best routes to take to lose any Hydra tail. Fitz, Hunter, and Bobbi were the first team to leave, just an hour after the phone call from Jemma. Fitz called her to let her know that they were coming and the relief in her voice brought a small smile to his face. He knew she’d be relieved if it was any of the others coming to her, but he wanted to believe that a part of her relief was because Fitz was on his way.

It took them a few hours to get rid of Ward’s tail on them; they didn’t want to seem as if they knew they were being followed. By the time they were over the Peak District, they were certain they were in the clear, so they landed and went to find Jemma. The safe house was a small cottage in the middle of the national park and was completely secluded, so having a jet parked by it would draw unwanted attention. 

Fitz called Jemma again when they landed to let her know that they’d be at her door momentarily, so as not to spook her when they knocked.

They didn’t even need to knock; Jemma had been watching their arrival and had thrown the door open when they were close. She’d practically jogged to Fitz before flinging her arms around him and holding him as tight as she could. She nuzzled into his neck, taking him in, she couldn’t help herself.

Fitz smiled sheepishly as she pulled away and went to hug Bobbi and Hunter. 

“So what’s the plan?” Jemma asked as she walked them into the safe house.

“The whole team’s flying out. We want to make sure you’re safe,” Bobbi said.

“But we’ll be a target, Ward could wipe us all out in one hit,” Jemma said, showing them through to the living room. 

“We’ve all got targets on our back, might as well stick together to work something out,” Hunter said, collapsing onto the couch. 

“Have you slept properly since you left the base?” Fitz asked. He hadn’t taken his eyes off Jemma since she’d opened the door.

“What do you think, Fitz?”

“You should. Go and sleep, we’ll be here when you wake up,” Bobbi said with a smile.

“I probably should, I’m shattered,” Jemma said. “There’s food and coffee in the kitchen, Benson said to help ourselves. I’ll leave him some money to cover whatever we take.”

\--

Nine hours later, Jemma awoke with a start, checking the room to make sure Ward hadn’t found her. All she found was Fitz fast asleep in a chair at the end of her bed. 

She got up as quietly as she could and went in search of the bathroom. As she was washing her hands, she heard Fitz call her name.

“I’m here, Fitz,” she said, sticking her head out of the door.

“I thought…” He didn’t need to finish the thought.

“It’s okay, I’m okay,” she said leaving the bathroom to hug him. 

She felt his head drop onto hers and some of the tension in his body faded. She wrapped her arms around his back and settled her head onto his chest.

“I’m sorry,” he said quietly.

“For what?” she asked.

“For letting you go alone. I should have come with you,” he said, rubbing her back absentmindedly.

“There was no way you could have known.”

“I should have been there.”

Jemma dropped her arms and took a step back, wanting to look him in the eye.

“You couldn’t have stopped it, and Benson might not have spared two of us. It was horrible and awful, but it’s over now, and I’m fine.”

“You promise?”

She nodded. “I promise.”

Fitz took hold of her hand and rubbed his thumb along her wrist.

“This doesn’t look fine,” he said, looking at the mark the cable ties had left.

He lifted her hand and kissed her wrist lightly.

“Much better,” Jemma said with a grin.

By midday, the whole team had arrived and set up shop in the living room. There was barely space for them all, but it was the biggest room in the house, so they had to make do. 

None of them could see a way of taking Ward down for good, all of their plans seemed to lead to dead-ends.

“Why are we doing this here, again?” Lincoln asked.

“Leaving the base to extract Jemma was a risk and right now he doesn’t know where we are. We need to lay low for a while,” Coulson explained.

“I’m going to take a nap, unless you need me down here?” Jemma asked, desperately in need of a break. 

The bedroom, like much of the house, had gotten stuffy with all eight of them packed in tight. She opened the window for some air before she dropped onto the bed.

Half an hour later, a pair of hands appeared at the window. Ward peeked up to make sure Jemma was asleep and when he was satisfied, he pulled himself into the room.

“Fucking Benson,” he spat. 

The bedroom door was shut and it sounded like everyone else was downstairs in the middle of a discussion about him, so he knew he had some time. He fought the urge to eavesdrop and worried instead about the syringe of pentobarbital in his jacket pocket. He could burn the house down, of course, but this was so much more personal now. He’d watch the team fall apart and get sloppy and then he could savour each other death’s individually; much more satisfying.

He stepped to her side and gently manoeuvred her arm so that he could get a good angle. He’d been intending to go straight for her heart, but he didn’t want to risk waking her and having her scream before he had a chance to escape. He eased the needle into her skin and started to depress the plunger when he heard footsteps outside the bedroom door. Enough of the pentobarbital was in her system to do some damage, so he leapt out of the window; the risk of being caught wasn’t worth it.

“Jemma?” Fitz asked, pushing the door open gently.

“We think we’ve got a plan,” he said walking towards the bed. “Jemma?”

Something didn’t look right to him, but he couldn’t put his finger on it. He nudged her leg, gently at first, then a little more aggressively. She wasn’t responding. He tried to test her pulse, but he couldn’t feel even the faintest beat.

“Something’s wrong!” he screamed.

The team was at the door in seconds. 

“What’s wrong?” Bobbi asked.

“She’s… she’s…” Fitz couldn’t find the words, again. He looked at Bobbi and pointed to Jemma. 

Bobbi nodded to Lincoln, who promptly rushed to Jemma’s side and started taking her vitals.

Fitz felt himself shaking. It started in his jaw and made its way through his body. He wanted, no he needed, to punch something, but all he could do was fall into the chair where he’d been sitting earlier. His whole body was heaving as tears started pouring down his face. 

He’d been so close to losing her yesterday, and now he might have lost her while he was just down the hall from her. His hands balled into fists and he started to pound on his thighs.

“No, no, no,” he continued to repeat as he started to punch harder.

“Mate, mate, come on, stop that,” he vaguely heard Hunter say, before he felt other hands on his own.

He couldn’t see much through the tears, everything was so blurry, but someone was in front of him, trying to talk to him. He blinked hard and took a few deep breaths and as he started to come back to his senses, he heard Lincoln ordering Daisy to get her medical kit. 

“She’s alive, all right? Bob and the new guy think she’s been drugged,” Hunter said as he took his hands off Fitz’s, realising he was less of a danger to himself.

“She’s alive?” Fitz whispered.

“Yeah,” Hunter replied.

“You three out,” Bobbi said to May, Coulson, and Mack. “You too, Hunter. Fitz, you can stay.”

The four of them piled out of the room, muttering amongst themselves.

“She’ll be okay, Fitz,” Bobbi said in her most soothing tone.

“Are you sure?” he asked.

“Positive,” Lincoln confirmed. 

Fitz perched himself on the end of the bed and rested a hand on Jemma’s leg.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered. “I’m so sorry.”

Daisy rushed in and handed the medical bag to Lincoln. She shot a sympathetic look at Fitz before leaving them to it.

“I’m gonna take some of her blood to work out what she was drugged with,” Lincoln said as he started fishing things out of the bag.

“We’ll analyse this downstairs. Give her room to breathe,” Bobbi said, nudging Lincoln to the door.

Fitz nodded. 

He moved further up the bed, sitting next to her. He ran his fingers through her hair and watched her chest closely to make sure that she was breathing. She was. 

“I’ll kill him for this,” he said. “A slow death, give him a taste of our pain.”

Bobbi came back and explained that she had pentobarbital in her system, only a small amount, not enough to do any damage. She’d be awake in a few hours. 

“I can monitor her if you want, but it’d be best to just leave her to sleep,” Bobbi said.

“I’ll stay with her,” Fitz said. “What are the others doing?”

“Scouring the forest, trying to find whoever this was,” Bobbi said. “There’s a needle mark in her arm, he must have been here and not long ago.”

“If it was Ward, I’m putting a bullet in him myself,” Fitz said.

Bobbi nodded and left Fitz alone with Jemma.

Fitz held Jemma in his arms and reminisced about the days before Ward and Hydra. He talked for hours about their times together in the academy; the days when they hated each other and then the days when they became inseparable. He just finished the story about their senior prank when he realised he was desperate for the bathroom. He leaned down and kissed Jemma’s forehead.

She looked so fragile as she slept, but he knew how unbreakable she was. She’d been through hell a dozen times and come out of everything stronger and more determined. She was the most remarkable person he’d ever known and he couldn’t believe how close he’d come to losing her.

“I love you,” he breathed.

He gently pressed his lips to hers before getting up from the bed to find the bathroom. He was back in the bedroom in less than two minutes, but by the time he got back Jemma’s eyes were open and she was trying to sit up.

“Fitz?” she croaked.

“Yeah, I’m here.” He rushed to her side, helping prop her up against the headboard.

He sat next to her and she dropped her head onto his shoulder. 

“What happened?” she asked.

“Ward climbed in the window and drugged you,” Fitz said, taking one her hands into his own.

“He… what?” she stammered.

Fitz explained everything to her and Jemma pulled herself closer to him as the story went on.

“I’ll kill him,” Jemma muttered.

“Not if I get there first,” Fitz said.

Jemma squeezed his hand. “Thank you for sitting with me.”

“I should tell Bobbi you’re awake.”

“Don’t go,” she whispered.

He didn’t. Instead he pulled out his phone and sent a text to Bobbi, who promptly appeared at the door.

“You’re awake,” Bobbi said, sighing with relief as she sat on the edge of the bed.

“I am,” Jemma replied with a smile.

“How are you feeling?” Bobbi asked.

“I’ve been worse.”

“Can I check your vitals?”

“Sure.”

It only took a few moments for Bobbi to be satisfied that Jemma was okay, and then she left to radio the others with the news.

Twenty minutes later and the bedroom was packed with the whole team.

“What happened out there?” Fitz asked.

“Hunter got him in the shoulder, but we lost him,” Coulson said.

“Sorry,” Hunter said.

“We should get out of here, before he comes back,” May said.

“Good idea,” Jemma agreed.

The team, minus Jemma and Fitz, cleared the house of their things and they were ready to leave in no time. 

Fitz held Jemma’s hand as they walked through the house and out to the jet that May had pulled up right outside.

“Did anyone leave money for Benson?” Jemma asked as she and Fitz made their way to the jet.

“Hunter took care of it. Even wrote a thank you card,” Fitz replied.

They both laughed and Jemma nudged her body gently against his.

“Let’s go home,” Jemma said as they boarded the jet.

“Home,” Fitz repeated with a small smile.

\--

“Did it hurt?” Fitz asked as they strapped themselves in.

“Did what hurt?” Jemma asked.

“When you thought you’d died.”

“The gunshots?”

Fitz nodded.

“No,” Jemma said, taking a moment to think about it. “My body reacted to the shots… I flinched and I thought it was the shots hitting me. But it didn’t hurt.”

Fitz took a moment to process. “Did your life flash before your eyes?”

“Kind of, it was more like I saw things I wish I’d done. Was it like that with you… in the pod?”

“I saw you; the good times and the not-so good times.” Fitz flushed and started to fiddle with the buttons on his shirt. “It doesn’t matter.”

Jemma couldn’t help but smile. “It does. I saw you too.”

Fitz’s eyes darted up at her. “You did?”

“I saw what our first date would be like, I saw us moving in to a tiny little cottage just the two of us, I saw our wedding.”

His mouth gaped open, not sure of the smoothest way to respond to that.

“It’s silly,” she said, looking away from him.

“It’s not silly. I didn’t know you thought about things like that.”

Now it was Jemma’s turn to flush. “A little, lately.”

“Right.”

A moment of silence passed between them and neither knew the best way of breaking the silence. 

“Dinner,” Jemma finally blurted out.

“What about it?” he asked.

“We should go out somewhere nice. If you want to.”

“Yes, yes, I do,” Fitz stammered. 

\--

“Fitz?” Bobbi called, walking down the corridor to Fitz’s room.

He opened his door and asked, “What?”

“I’ve got good news,” she said with a smile.

“Did Hunter finally do his laundry?” Fitz asked, going back to his wardrobe.

“Don’t be ridiculous. Anyway, this is better.”

Fitz turned to Bobbi holding two ties. “Which one?”

“The blue, it brings out your eyes. Don’t you want to hear the news?”

“Right, sure.”

“Coulson and May got Ward. They were following a lead in South America and they got him.”

“They got him or they got him?” Fitz asked, putting the tie on.

“He’s dead. They’re bringing the body back now.”

“He’s dead?”

Bobbi nodded. “He’s dead.”

Fitz flopped down onto his bed, overwhelmed by the news and not sure how to process it. After all they’d been through with Ward, it was finally over. They were finally free of him. 

“Whoa,” he mumbled.

“Did you hear?” Jemma asked, coming bounding into the room. “Oh, hello Bobbi.”

“Hi, Jemma. I’ll leave you to it. Have a good night, you two.”

“She told you?” Jemma asked when Bobbi was gone.

Fitz nodded.

“Oh, I wanted to be the one to tell you.”

“I can’t believe it.”

“I know, me either. It’s finally over.”

Fitz nodded and stood, taking in Jemma’s appearance. She was wearing a new black and silver dress that shimmered in the light, and she’d done her hair differently.

“You look amazing,” he said as he took her in.

“So do you. I love the tie, it really brings out your eyes.”

Fitz smiled. “You ready to go?”

“Yes.”

He gestured to the door. “After you.”


End file.
